La China

Photos Shoots Are Soothing

2012-01-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

It's funny how my friend brings in a tray of cupcakes and the first thing I think is - oooh! I need to shoot those! I love to photograph things and her adorable little creations are fun to snap. And snapping away is a great escape for me. When I am in photography mode, my mind is focused and I could look up twenty minutes later in a blink of an eye. I love it. And I've been enjoying the iPhone 4s camera with its 8 megapixel capability. Not bad when you think it's a great camera without having to lug around the lovely but hefty Nikon D90. And I love that Laurie, my friend and officemate jumps right in on the action now. We start with an idea and then we just start shooting. So. We start with a few props in the office. And we go to this -

And then we try a plain backdrop -

And another great think about the iPhone? The cool and fun apps that helped me enhance the pictures a little bit.

What else helps soothe me? Blogging.

Next Week Will Be Tet Already

2012-01-19T21:28:00.001-08:00

And I am not even going to be as ready as I would have been 5 years ago. There is no way I can have the house as clean and neat as I would like it to be unless I take off work and do nothing else but prepare between now and Monday. Yikes. That's not going to happen so we'll do the best we can. Tomorrow is work and then prepare ourselves for bee class Saturday morning. Then maybe a visit to the gym before they close. Saturday evening will be for taking stock of equipment to see what we need to purchase (hopefully not much) and ... hmm ... there was some other big bee biz thing we said we'd do but I can't recall. Oh yes, look at the application for submitting an Adult Continuing Education course with Comal County. We're going to write up something for GBR. This reminds me of the fun days of knitting class with Sary in SA. The teacher was horrid as a teacher but a great knitter. Somehow Sary and I got through it, as everyone else in class, and we went on to teach a LOT of other friends. And out of that, the Knit Night social gatherings were born. Seems like a long time ago right now.

Back to Tet. At least I have door decorations and sweets this year! Hooray for trips to and through Houston. I love that 99 Market - so conveniently located along IH-10. :) Now, gotta get to bed. I need an early start tomorrow. The other job requires some data pulled together for a 2p meeting. I feel like I'm in college a bit. At least I have until 2p to finish my data gathering assignment. Nighty night.

I App'ed My Tacos

2012-01-05T21:16:00.001-08:00

Is it possible to be in love with or addicted to an app?? I L-O-V-E Instagram! It is so fun and I love the different looks that the filters create out of one shot. Sigh. It's a real close call as to whether I love Pinterest or Instagram more. lol And I have enticed another friend onto Pinterest. :) I knew she'd love it. She's hooked.

Shazam!

2012-01-03T20:18:00.001-08:00

I just love this app. It's awesome enough to tell me what I'm listening to...but now? Now it also gives me the words at the right time so it's like I have my own karaoke machine. Lol...without the crowd. I love technology. Good and bad. All of it.

Reminds Me of Mom

2012-01-02T20:36:00.001-08:00

Fresh off my visit to Florida to see the family, my parents have been on my mind a lot, especially my mom. She and my dad are getting up there in years so it meant a lot to me that we could go see them together. I have not done a lengthy Christmas visit since I've been out here in Texas. I think we did go a few years ago but it was a very, very short hi-bye trip as we were actually going to pick up bee supplies in Georgia. Took a slight detour overnight.

Mom often gives us cuttings of plants. She is amazing with food and plants. A natural. You give her a dead plant, she gives you blooms by the end of the first year. Love it. She gave us another Bong Mai for the new year coming up (Tet, that is). I shall keep this one inside to see how it fares as the climate in South Texas is not really for it. Besides, having it inside on the counter allows me to see it everyday and so it reminds me of mom several times a day. Not that I need a plant to remember mom. But when I see it, I have a nice, short, different memory of the past.

She once also gave us a lemongrass cutting from her gigantic bush in Florida. We planted it here and it also grew gigantic - even Smokey loved it, chewing on the blades daily it seemed. We lost it to a harsh freeze one year and I really wish I had dug it up to take it in. Anyway, the last time we went to Houston for the opera, I saw frozen stems of lemongrass and thought I'd see if I could root them - they rooted! YAY! In spring, I will plant them in a big container perhaps. I'm not sure yet. I'm just happy it rooted because it also reminds me of mom. When we felt under the weather, she'd cut some blades and make us a steam bath with it. Soooo incredibly soothing and smelled divine. I haven't cooked a lot with it as of late but I want to pick that back up when we have enough for me to do that. We did stuff some in a turkey one year and then had it fried. That was good eating.

Anyway, happy new year my friends. My one resolution for myself this year is to post more regularly on La China as well as on the Seguin blog. It's always amazing to me when I meet people and they tell me they still follow my poor, neglected blog that I can't bear to turn over to someone else or to turn off. Sigh. So...I shall endeavor to keep it up.

General Thoughts for the Holiday Season

2011-12-22T09:46:00.001-08:00

These are random thoughts I'm having as I have been so busy with life that I can't even post regularly even though I think about it all the time. Gotta prioritize which blogs get updated regularly. I wish I had more hours each day! This is me stretching out my right leg during our 7-hour drive from Ft. Davis. I think it's my sciatic nerve giving me the pain. Good news is that it is feeling much better as I take every opportunity to stretch it. Even during work, when I am sure I must freak people out by propping my leg up on my desk while discussing things. hehe

YAY, got to spend time with Luke and see where he lives and work now. Awesome visit. Can't wait to go back out there. It's gorgeous.

I found this metal tree at Hallmark's. A part of me probably knew we wouldn't have time to get all our Christmas stuff down from the attic this year again. So at least we have a little bit o' festivity around. :)

If it wasn't for Pinterst...

2011-11-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

...then I wouldn't have found a picture of this lovely necklace. And then I wouldn't have found TheLuxeGarden on Etsy. And then I wouldn't have had a chance to share information about our bees with Live, the lovely Norwegian jewelry maker. And then I wouldn't have known that learning about the plight of the bees has compelled her to think about donating a portion of her bee-inspired jewelry to helping us help the bees. Isn't that amazing?!?! I love the necklace. I love the experience. And I love Pinterest!

Vendor Life

2011-10-09T11:34:00.001-07:00

So far this is the most challenging vendor to be near. Not the little girl...the person not pictured is loud, obnoxious and pushy. She ran over here when there was a police officer sampling honey and
was all in our way. Ugh. Women who crave attention from men, especially law enforcement types...there's a word for that. Can't recall the word. Anyway, she wanted honey also. Luckily I had my own backup and Mark took over her request for me. I was glad the officer ignored her but what cracked me up was Mark asking him if that was a Taser on his holster. Lol FUNNY!

And one more thing - she has sold 2 pairs all 4 days we've been here. Really, $45 for blinged out flip flops. Wow.

Flapjack the Donkey

2011-08-24T19:53:00.001-07:00

"...please say [you] need a free donkey... We have no way of delivering him so whoever wants him needs to have a trailer to come and pick him up. He goes by the name of Flapjack. He likes pancakes."

I thought that was one of the funniest things I've read in a while. And it's for real. I read it on a group a friend added me to here in Seguin. Only in the country, folks, would you read about a pancake eating donkey name Flapjack. I LOVE it!

What does the cool ice cream scooper have to do with Flapjack? Nothing. I just happened to think of both at the same time. Maybe I shall name my scooper Flapjack. Brilliant. Anyway, this is a Zyliss product and I think it is THE best ice cream scooper I've ever had or used. Mark got it for me from Gift and Gourmet to replace a scooper we had that has now become a beekeeping utensil (for scooping bee food actually). It's got a nice heavy weight to it and it cuts through even hard ice cream with ease. And then when you turn it into the bowl, it amazingly releases the ice cream without you having to get a spoon out in order to coax the ice cream to come out of the scooper. Very nice. You don't know how fun it is to scoop ice cream for folks until you have a tool that works superbly. I also got some other great kitchen utensils but I'll save those for another post. :-)

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks

2011-08-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

I heard this upbeat song on the radio on the way to lunch at home. Liked it a lot. Then my friend Gil asked me if I'd heard of this tune so I found it and it was the same song as I had heard earlier! I guess we're on the same wavelenght! :-)

Bees & Toes

2011-08-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Why can't I just walk barefoot and take pictures 50% of everyday? Sigh. :-)

Hola from La China

2011-08-01T07:29:00.001-07:00

I'm back! Rather than over-think what I'm going to say and how to "come back" to my little blog, I thought to myself, "Oh, just write something. Anything." So here I am. I have missed this blog but we have been so busy with the bee biz and I still have that other job, you know. Anyhoo...

Note about this shot - do not tie your shirt around your waist and then wander around the countryside of the lovely bee yards. Why? Well...I sort of forgot that the prickly pear's thorns easily transfer upon touch. So it transferred to my dangling sleeves and I didn't notice them until I used the sleeves later to dab my face. Felt a little scratchy. No wonder! DOH!!!! I had to laugh at myself. Also on the smart Thien moves list that day - losing the iPhone for about 10 minutes when it dropped out of my pocket . I think during a bit of a "worried" (NOT panicked) moment when a bee keep doing the Kamikaze against my veil. That makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, luckily I found it (face down in the dirt road) and it only had to cool down a bit before I could check it was still working. Poor little phone. It's been through a lot since I inherited it a short time ago. :-)

Shoes Are Fun

2011-05-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

These shoes give me a boost both physically and emotionally. There's just something about wearing high heeled shoes that make me feel extra everything. Extra feminine, extra fun, extra happy, extra extra. And just for the record, I am not typically all into trendy fashion trends (to be redundant), but I happen to like these neutral colors BEFORE I heard that neutrals are all the rage this year. Really? I wonder who coined that phrase, "all the rage" and when. I'll have to remember to look that up sometime. Enough on shoes. On to organization since I just posted on GBR blog about efficiency and organization. I want to organize my closet so tomorrow I will continue to clean it out so I can keep what I actually fit and wear. Then I want to buy some clear shoe boxes to better organize my shoes and that should also allow me to visually select more efficiently. Why in the world am I writing all about this? Who knows. It's write this or go satisfy my hunger, which I should not since it's almost midnight. Which reminds me...last week was my birthday. Sort of not the greatest birthday ever but there were good parts to it. It was nice to have a bit of an extended birthday observance this week...sort of a do-over. Thank goodness. That was the first bad Friday the 13th birthdays I've had. They are usually so awesome! Anyways...I'm 42. Kind of sounds weird. Kind of looks weird to see it typed. I feel like I'm still in my 30s. A friend told me I could be 36. I think that sounds good. Though at times I have been known to act even younger. :-) Like under 10. When it comes to cute little plushies from family and friends.

Okay, that's all my ramblings for the night. Sometimes, you gotta just let the fingers fly on the keyboard. Goodnight, everyone.

That's Me - the Short One

2011-05-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

Do I look intense or what??? That's me standing on my own next to my mom. Hi everyone - I'm back!!!!! In other news, my man has great taste in cards in my opinion. He just seems to know what I like and what I think sometimes. For example, I got this card on Mother's Day, which is so sweet he celebrates me on that day. One of the first things I said was, "Oh I love the pink slippers!" To which he responded, "I knew you'd like that." I love him so much. It's those little, little things about me that he notices when others may not. My expressions that he tells me looks like Catherine's. And my freckles that are appearing more noticeably now. And my gigantic, toothy smile that he says lights up a dark room. And that I talk to the characters, newspeople, athletes and whoever else is on the TV or movie screen. And he knows I love Baldacci and gives me his books. And he knows how I feel about fried chicken. And that I don't like heat but somehow I've grown to tolerate Tx heat pretty well.

You know what else I love about Mark? How he makes me crack up, not laugh, crack up! Daily. I'm so lucky to blessed with him as my pardner. I just adore him. I'm glad he took a second chance on marriage.

And by the way, I will be 42 on Friday the 13th this year. I think that's the best day to have a birthday! :-)

Painted Prettiness

2011-03-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today's post (or should I say this quarter's post) is about the colors I'm trying out this spring. In honor of our Spurs doing so darn great this season (though there are spurts of lackluster performances), I have my silver and black polishes ready for the playoffs. I think we will actually go far this year if we can pull it together and toughen up. Also, playing more consistently would sure be good. Go Spurs! Our next game will be the Celtics at the end of the month. Silver and black toes and finger tips will be ready to go by then. :-)

I'm also enjoying trying new colors I never would have in the past except now I get them discounted from Mary Kay. LOVE THAT! My MK time has taught me to use the colors and products in ways that produce effects/results I like a lot so it's been a lot of fun. As I get older and see more lines, it's really also helped to learn more about the moisturizers and firming lotions that help my skin look better. This is not a plug for MK. It's more about how much fun I'm having these days playing with STUFF. lol

This all reminds me of something my wonderful brother told me when I was a teenager and I had started trying out some makeup. I think it was Cover Girl at the time, maybe Maybelline. Always the best, most caring older bro ever, he said that if I was going to try makeup and use it, then I should not use cheap makeup since it might not be good for my skin. I certainly wasn't thinking about the long term effects of makeup usage at that point! It's so good to have a cool brother watching out for you. Thanks big bro.

Snowy Delight

2011-01-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

I am L-O-V-I-N-G the snow. It has been over 15 years since I've had the joy of a significant amount of snow and I had not idea how much I had missed it. There simply a gorgeousness to it and a beauty in the silence that typically accompanies the first day of snow. People are out and about in it yet. The ploughs and shovels and sanders haven't messed up the roads and parking lots yet. People and their animals haven't left their footprints everywhere. :-) The snowglobe effect is awesome! And boy am I happy about those warm boots Mark found for me! My feet are currently super dry and super warm. I love it.

Say...you notice how long my hair is getting?! I haven't cut it since June when Mai and the girls took me to this Vietnamese stylist guy - I loved their cuts and I love mine also. I'm scared to take myself anywhere else now because I don't want them to mess up the cut. People tell me if I just tell them to "follow" the cut, that should be ok but I've tried that before in the past and it has not worked. boo...what to do, what to do. I can't just fly to FL for a cut, right!? Anyway, just wanted to say, I'm enjoying long hair again. Let's see how long I can stand it.

On a completely separate note, check out the inside color of The Cupcakery in Gruene, Texas. It's the green of our laundry room! Loved it!

Loved everything about the experience despite the actual products (2 cupcakes - red velvet and wicked chocolate) were disappointing. We will go back and try a fresh one and give them a second chance so I hope it'll be better next time. I just don't know how they can keep them "fresh" if they are displayed out in the open and uncovered. I think that dries them out, don't you?

Random Tuesday Thoughts from VA

2011-01-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

I picked a random picture from my Flickr for my random thoughts. Here they are:

I love coconut! And since this is coconut candy typically consumed only at Tet (Lunar or Chinese New Year), that reminds me - OMG, Tet is next THURSDAY!!! WHAT??? I need to clean and find festive things for the house. I better get to it when I get back to Tx.
We are expecting snow/ice tomorrow! Woohoo! But I won't get TOO excited as the last time I was here, they said we'd get 3 inches and we got less than an inch. Really. Couldn't even make a midget snowman. This time they SAY we may get 6 to 9 inches. Again, we'll wait and see. But still, I'm a little excited. It's not suppose to be here till Wednesday evening so hopefully we'll not have to stay too late at training.
My feet are super warm right now in VA, thanks to my super warm $20 boots from Academy. I didn't want to join the "boots" craze this season but this is strictly for functionality (non-frozen toes in frozen northeast) and not for a fashion statement. And THEN I realized that I technically had like FOUR pairs! What? I go pretty much all my life without owning boots and then boom, within the past couple of years, I accumulate the following, amazingly -

These are my Academy-keeps-my-toes-warm-in-VA boots. Very light believe it or not and quick to get in and out of at airport security.

These are my steel-toed boots I got from CMC when I came to work here. Wear these only if you want to work out your legs. HEAVY. But cool.

These are my walk-safely-around-fields-and-beeyards boots. Makes me feel cool to wear these - very safe in the pastures.

And these are my walk-in-muddy-beeyards-without-worrying-about-dirtiness boots. Light but doesn't breath whatsoever so your feet get HOT. Or is that just me?

Bees, Land and Crafting

2011-01-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

In my mind, I picture a renovated house, the bees in the background and us walking around that field. That'd be lovely.

This is one of the shots I snapped as I drove around the outskirts of Harrisonburg (VA). I really loved the rolling hills out there and hope Mark will be able to visit it with me.

IT's wonderful to be home and to see everyone. Who knew a week could feel so darn LONG. In case you didn't Google it, here's where I was last week - do you know how much fun I had looking through all my pages of old atlas-turned-wrapping-paper sheets until I found Virginia? And imagine my glee when I found the exact place I'd be? I turned this into an envelope to hold all the daily notes I made for Mark. It was really fun and made me happy to be crafting again.

Thoughts from a Stuck China

2011-01-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some thoughts on my mind first thing (well, maybe not first since I've been awake since 4:45am) this morning:

It is hard to warm up hands and feet once they get REALLY cold. I got here Sunday. By Thursday, for some reason, I got really cold and couldn't get my feet and hands warm unless I had them on the vents in the car. Or take a super, duper HOT shower. I hope I'm not getting sick.
Training room setup is important and takes some thought. The way the classroom is configured, I am in the farthest corner away from the door and I can't get out without making two other people get up, which would be disruptive. I also can't move around to help students unless they are in the seats in front of me or beside me.
Women make things complicated sometimes. I have traveled quite a bit for work and have been involved on many different project teams. Overall, traveling with a group of men is a lot less complicated than with a group of women. Man, the logistics can get so frustrating. This is why I often try to get my own wheels. After a trip or two having to rely on others for a ride, I've learned my lesson for sure.

I like this picture because it reminds me of a less busy, less stressful time in my life. A time when I made time to sit quietly to knit and little Smokey was just a little bitty thing. He's so adorable.

2011 Beeventures of Mark & Thien

2011-01-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to our very first national beekeeping conference - very nice! We weren't sure what to expect so we went only to exhibits this time around but I think the next conference we go to, we'll do the full conference. I think it's Phoenix next year. Should be nice. I had a really wonderful time in Galveston; mostly, I think, because if you put me anywhere near water, then I'm happy. But it's not the same as the east coast and especially not the same as the Ocracoke. Still, it was a great time away from things and fun to do something new with Mark. We are looking forward to our next conference and our next trip, which MAY be getting Mark to come to Virginia with me during week two of work travel.

And now I'm in Virginia onsite for some training support and these block heads are talking about how cheerleaders are not hard to look at - puhleeze people. Have a little class guys. And act like you have some decency; is that too much to ask for??? This all started because they had to rag on the Cowboys and someone said the only good thing about Dallas is the cheerleaders. It was really hard for me not to say something but I didn't want to create an even more hostile training environment. Half of them are already negative and making passive aggressive remarks about the software we're training. That really doesn't help at all. That's what I want to tell them. Being negative won't make your time in class any shorter. And it won't exempt you from training. So get over it. UGH. Why don't people appreciate learning??? Why don't they get another job if they don't want to work here? I'm thankful I have a job. I wish I was doing actual training but I try and get over that point and get what I can out of the activities I am asked to support. It's not always a walk in a beautiful park but I'm trying to remind myself daily that I need to appreciate my job and the friends and benefits I have from being there. And I do appreciate it. Okay, I'll stop. Maybe my stony silence (and a scowl) moved them on. Wow, the two guys on the back are a couple of real smarty pants, as evidenced by their many smart remarks. Sigh. Why, you may ask am I writing if I'm sitting in on training? I'm on break! We started at 7a and I pray we will finish by 5p. And now I must go. More later.

I Heart Candles & Music

2010-12-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

...and my new earbuds! Who would have thought some $10 ear pieces would be the bomb, right? Well, these Skull Candy earbuds are really awesome. My friend Tod got some last year and liked them so much and talked about them just as much that I had to get Mark a set because he often commented that his existing earbuds weren't that great. It is really hard to find good ones that have great sound and that don't hurt your ears after a certain period of use. Anyway, they normally go for about $20 except that around the holidays you can find them cheaper. This year I saw and ad for Black Friday and swooped in for my cute little pink ones. As soon as I put them in, I was in love. If it's one thing I love, it's music. I love to hear it even more than I love to sing it. And I love a good bass sound especially when I'm working out. Music can make me forget all my troubles and stresses.

Pair that with sitting amongst hundreds of beeswax candles and wow...happy. It smells incredible when I sit in the living room, tying little gift bags and prepping candles for orders and general sale at the shows. And now that the weather is colder, I can actually light a lot of them and we love the way it warms up the rooms and fills the air with the scent of honey. Just about like being in the bee house. Very nice.

And to end on a funny note, we went to a new bee yard a couple of weekends ago so Mark could build some new hives with Russell queens that had come in earlier that week. This yard had a couple of fiesty hives so he warned me ahead of time and we both got fully suited. I did my thing and took pictures. Then he told me they were pretty fiesty still so my options were to get in the truck (still suited) or to move far off. I opted for far off. So I walked off and a little bee kept following me and bumping me. So I kept walking...

...and walking...and walking. I kept walking until she left me alone. If it's one thing I learned, it's to be fully suited and to take hints from Mark AND the bees. I walked away so far that Mark later told me he looked up to check on me and he couldn't even find/see me. And I had a big ole white suit! It cracked us up big time. I love my beeventures with Mark. Life if pretty awesome.

Earl says...

2010-11-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

...talk to the hand because I am outta here! Sadly, my little cubemate is no more. At least I haven't seen him in a while so I'm not sure what has happened to him. My neighbor found a "fried" lizard outside our building and he says THAT was Earl and I thought it was too but then last week I did see a green lizard so maybe that chicken-fried-Earl wasn't Earl! lol - we'll never know for sure. Looks like Ronnie and I should caught Earl for tagging sooner like we had talked about doing.

Okay, so moving on...been BUSY! Very busy. But here I am sitting in Irving, all packed and ready to go home. woo hoo! Being away a full week up here hasn't happened in a while so I am ready for home. That's for sure. People are so interesting - we're going through a lot of changes with a new CIO and you should see how people's attitudes have changed. Not all bad - working later, follow-through on projects, talking to their customers. Good stuff. I'm hopeful that things will really turn around here.

Okay, I need to go post to GBR blog before bed. Me tired.

It's about that time...

2010-10-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

There are 58 days until Christmas, which made me think of these pictures. I love it when we have been on beeventures - especially ones that involve moving bee boxes. Why? Because it's it's fun to see the boxes tied/wrapped up - they look like gift boxes. And they are Wolfpack colors so that rocks, too. :) Miss watching ACC sports still. These are boxes we moved last night from the Big Oaks Bee Yard to our new Capote Bee Yard. Kenneth is the son of a good friend and he's really interested in beekeeping so he's helping Mark out and learning at the same time. That's awesome because we need more beekeepers in the area. :)

These also reminded me of the original shot that first made me think the boxes look like little gifts. This is from our trip to Bolton, MS, to pick up Mr. Russell's bees that Mark had bought. That was a fun adventure.

Back from...wherever I've been!

2010-10-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Original start date of post - Sept 26
This is one of my favorite shots from a recent trip to Lily's Cookies with Mark to restock the honey inventory. I love the bright, super clean looking shop and I love the treats they make there. Also a joy to stop by there and I'm so glad I found it. And I'm so happy they are carrying our honey and now they actually have the Tx Mesquite Honey Cookie. COOL. Very cool. :)

Been a busy time - traveling...

Date I realized I never posted this - October 26 (haha)
...and apparently I was so busy that I didn’t even finish what I started here. LOL. So, to pick up where I left off, I had been doing a bit of traveling for work lately though nothing like in the past. I’m a little sad about that because I really miss teaching and meeting our workers out in the other parts of the US. Not sure I’ll ever get to go overseas at this point, but you never know. I’m ready to go if necessary.

We have been super busy with the Gretchen Bee Ranch biz – I call it GBR now. Lots of fairs, festivals and markets. Phew. It’s a lot of work but mostly a lot of fun. We love meeting new people and we also love sharing some great tasting honey. Plus we are learning a lot. Everyday. About bees. About business. About web stuff. Sigh. It’s a little draining, I have to admit, but I wish I could do it full-time with Mark. That’s our goal so we’ll just keep plugging away until one day, before we know it, I’ll just HAVE to commit full-time to it. After all, we must grow our Bee Empire! As an aside, I think we are beginning to get recognized by people around town. At the least, I know people call Mark the “Bee Man” and if I am with him, then they recognize us from our label picture. hehe

Okay so before I leave you, and hopefully this time not for so long, I ponder the following:

Why does this shot have 119 views?

While this shot has 197 views?

And this shot has 507 views??

I can only guess that people think boots on actual feet are a lot more appealing to the eye than boots just sitting in the house, which is still more appealing than boots just sitting on the shelf at the store. I don't know why this struck me but I was looking at my Flickr statistics and it caught my attention. And my most popular picture???? I shall post it later this week. You'll see why.

Kitty & Friends

2010-09-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

My baby turned seven yesterday! I love my kitty cat even if he does drive me crazy sometimes trying to get me or Mark to hang with him while he eats. Ugh. That Smokey. Wanting company while he eats. He's too funny and he is constantly making us laugh with his antics. Baby kitty knows many commands now - sit, up (on his hind legs), sit back down, shake paw (leftie like you Sary), crouch down....and we've been working on rollover but he's not quite there yet. ALMOST! lol

Today I am really missing my buds from the library and all the fun times we've had together. I ran across these pictures and they made me smile as I recalled our many jaunts here and there to snap pictures for our blogs.

This one below is one of my favorites of Sarah and Sonia snapping shots. Very funny poses and totally candid and unrehearsed. I miss you guys a lot and I miss our fun times we've had together. :-) Of course, I would not go back there now...but I miss YOU.

Wow It's HOTT!

2010-08-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm talking about the weather! Geez...upper 90s with heat index higher than that, along with intense sun. Saturday is suppose to hit 100. :) Lovely! Also lovely is the pink/green color combination. I LOVE this together. Here's my latest (and only real one) craft project later. I need a craft space so I can spread out. I really also want to get out my beads soon and make some earrings or something. So this is my nameplate contest entry for work. I had so much fun making it! There were so many possibilities but in the end, I decided to go with what makes me feel good.

I love pink and green because it will always remind me of a childhood memory of my dad coloring with me and my siblings. He didn't do that often with us but the one time I remember is when he colored a dress these two colors. I thought it was so different but so pretty. I remember I was really impressed that he was so good - not only at staying in the lines, but also at selecting color combinations I never would have put together.

Whaaat? It's August?

2010-08-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

My top 10 thoughts for the week:

I am going to try baking these butternut squash for a light dessert this weekend.
We are hitting the Marion Sausage Supper/Trade Days event this Saturday - tent, honey, mingling. Should be fun!
I am hitting Dallas the rest of the week.
We have been to A Dong at the Forum like 3 times in the past week and a half. That's how much we like it. :-)
I have a new office and a new office mate. We survived our first day together. That's good.
Our bees have multiplied! Mark's up to about 44 hives I believe.
We're going to get a Food Manufacturer's license soon! That means we're able to get into retail outlets legally.
It's HOT.
It's AUGUST. WHAT???? Where did the year go? I am still pondering that. Amazing.
I am in love with the D90. I love the feel of snapping shots with it.

Blogger It Is

2010-07-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

I think I will stay put on Blogger. I'm not feeling Wordpress at the moment and I've been too busy to play around and learn. So let's stay put for now. :-) Thanks for your patience!

I have been in Chicora, PA the past two weeks and I think it's so beautiful here! I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed myself because the first week I was so lonely and a bit homesick. I have not traveled for non-Corporate visits in over a year so it took a little adjustment. The second week was a lot better and I drove around as I used to and snapped lots of pictures of things that appealed to me. Like this house. I love the greenness of the landscape, the rolling hills, the super-low humidity. It was awesome. You know what else was great? The PEOPLE. They were all soooo nice to me and they really reminded me of the folks I met in places like Fallon (NV) and Iowa Falls. Just normal, nice, funny people. Very cool.

I'm back home and straightening up my desk a bit. I may have a friend over this weekend to show her how to set herself up on a blog service. She's a baker and I think she may be wanting to start a blog to showcase her work. We'll see. She hasn't even told me yet what she wants to do. lol

Ahhh....and now to play with all my cool Mary Kay stuff I just got. I love the discount for products I love using. Plus other people put some orders in as well so I need to sort through it all and price stuff. Fun! I like the ability to try a lot of new colors (esp. for eyes) that I would not otherwise try. I always stayed pretty neutral but this summer, I am experimenting with lighter shades and adding a lot of color. I love it! I think I am making up for being such a tomboy growing up. :-\

Aren't my lashes just the ultimate?? lol, that's the name of it. Really, I do like the products a lot and have been using them for several years now. I had to start moisturizing and firming up this 40-something face! Pearl Cream will not cut it.

Time for a change (maybe)

2010-05-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Check out my La China on Wordpress and tell me what you think. Please. :-)

2010-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Come on, boys! You can take those Suns down tomorrow night. It's the S-U-N-S - what IS that as a mascot anyway? The playoffs are so fun. Especially when our Spurs win.

GO SPURS GO!

What in the world is this?

2010-04-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

Anybody have any idea what this creature is?? I have never seen one of these before and I was intrigued by it though cautious while snapping shots since I don't want to take chances with getting stung by yet another of these flying animals. I seem to be a magnet for bugs and I don't seem to react well to stings and bites. My goal is to make it through 2010 without another visit to ER for an allergic reaction to a sting. :-) So far, so good (knock on wood!).

Today I came home for lunch to get away from my work computer for a bit. It is sooooo lovely today (as it has been for a few days now) that we decided not to waste it eating inside. We took our peanut butter and honey sandwiches out to My Father's Farm to enjoy the breeze and watch the bees. It made the day so wonderful! I just loved doing that with Mark. Awesome. While we were there, we also took a walk along some of the garden rows to see what Pedro was growing currently. Saw some green peppers, dill, potatoes (we think), and salad-looking greens. There were also lots of beautiful wildflowers still in bloom. It is a wonderful time to be living here!

Interesting finds at TLA

2010-04-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

This week Mark manned the his publisher's booth during Tx Library Assocation's Annual Conference. It was so fun to take the day off in order to join him for booth sitting as well as to attend his presentation. He did a great job, of course, and we had a ton of fun at the booth. We saw former colleagues and friends and we also made new friends with people who stopped by to inquire about the books and publisher. A lot of work but also a lot of fun!

I love seeing the bigger displays during these conferences, especially at ALA, lot of money there. Anyway, here are two of my faves this conference - that chair! It was so colorful and fun. It beckoned to me from across the aisle. By the end of the first day, I simply HAD to go try it out. Loved it. That'd be fun to have but it doesn't fit anywhere in the house. Shucks.

Here's the other thing I liked - check out that big ole eraser!!!! lol - how can you NOT want to pick that thing up and try it out?!?! It's not a REAL eraser. It's sort of like a pillow. Somewhat disappointing but a whole lot lighter than had it been real rubber. I had a ton of fun!

Happy April

2010-04-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, time for an update! Sometimes I forget what I've posted, where I posted it and when. :-) I love technology and gadgets - do you? We have so many (too many perhaps) ways to stay in touch - text messages, chats and messengers, 4 or 5 blogs, Facebook, Twitter, work email, personal email and on and on. I've been trying to make more time for the more personal phone calls and in-person time. I'd rather have a real hug than a virtual one from family and friends!

Having said all that, La China and Ta-Ravel still should get updated so here we go. Work is going better. I still miss the team a lot but at least I have friends around me here in Seguin and I'm not traveling up to Irving much. When I do, I actually enjoy it b/c I love seeing Jess and reconnecting with her. I feel more in tune with the "new" work when we can do face-to-face sessions. I'm currently learning how to creat e-Learning, which is new and pretty neat to me. It just means rethinking how to teach some things I've always taught in person. Learning a lot so that's a good thing.

Home is super - nothing but great things going on there. Mark and I enjoy our time together whether we're tending bees or hanging out and talking about what we want to do in the near future. We're ready for adventures elsewhere so you never know when or where that'll take us. We'll keep you posted.

Time to end, folks. Mark's taking this China off to SA for some Vietnamese food. Woo hoo! Y'all have a great week. Mark's got the Tx Library Assoc. Annual Conference in town this week so very little to no beekeeping going on for a while. TTYL.

Vera, Vera Happy

2010-04-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

This bag makes me happy. I have really enjoyed my Vera bags ever since Mark started me off on my first one several years ago. This is the Bowler that I got with the gift card from Juanita. I love looking at print on these bags. At first, before I had one, I thought it looked a little too busy. But now I guess my eyes have changed :-). THe different patterns are fun to follow and they are so cheerful. Especially this one. I love all the flowers. Who knew mixing all these patterns would work so well.

Watching the Spurs take on the Magic. My goodness! If only we looked like this all season. Sigh. Instead, we're in EIGHTH place. Sheesh. That'd mean playing the Laker girls first round. Yikes. Sarah, if you're reading this, your man TP has been out a LONG time. Sure have missed him but Manu is so awesome this year. It's great to see him healthy. His game is amazing! On a related note, I am now following a few Spurs players on Twitter. That's sort of fun. Manu, Roger Mason and DeJuan Blair. I need to see if Tim tweets. I don't think he does. And Tony does but I'm not too keen on following him for some reason. I'm just rambling now. lol

Oh! Today Mark spent the whole day with me and we did so many fun things together! I love being with him. He's amazing!

Love my Justin Gyspy boots!

2010-03-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Check out my new boots! We have each been needing some boots for working the bees and we finally found some we like without breaking the bank. We went to Cavender's at the San Marcos outlet area and the staff was super. The young man helping us found us great boots, even when I got discouraged because I couldn't find the ones I liked in my size. He found these and they feel super. I broke them in today in Gonzales - very nice. No worries about bee stings on the ankle or snake bites either. :-) Note: we stopped by the brand new Academy in San Marcos and while the store was lovely, the young staff - THREE in the shoe section - was not only not helpful, but they were in my way...playing ball in the middle of the aisle. Ugh. Annoyingly rude. So we told the front door guy. I need to fill out the card he gave me. Anyway, to balance out that visit, Chad at Cavender's rocked. Thank goodness there are still some hardworking young people to keep me from thinking all hope is lost with the young. ;-)

I'm off to Irving for three days. I guess I should go and finish packing. 4:30a is going to come around pretty early tomorrow. :-/

Here are Mark's boots!

Me Feeling Better

2010-03-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

HA! It just occurred to me that I am almost FORTY-ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That Stings!

2010-03-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is how I felt work did me today. Bad stinger. :-( I miss my peeps. I miss training and helping people. It stinks to go through them at the library and then again here. I know I should appreciate having a job and I DO. I just wish I could do something that brings me joy; something that touches me.

Oh yes, the stinger. Cool, huh? Good thing I had gloves on! Mark saved me! I had forgotten mine like a bad beekeeper. lol. The little bee wouldn't leave me alone even after I walked away quite a distance and for quite some time. I got tired of her and to be honest, the thought did cross my mind that I could kill two birds with one stone - get rid of her so I could get closer to the hives AND take a picture of a stinger, which I had been wanting to catch (though not on ME). As soon as she landed on my hand again, I smacked and she stung. And then she DIED!!!! Poor thing.

Ok, now I need to do some work. But as a treat, I let myself update three blogs. Woohoo! lol. To all my special peeps...I MISS YOU VERY MUCH.

March Happenings

2010-03-20T14:30:00.001-07:00

Check out that stinger from a bee at the Gonzales yard. :-) Thank goodness for LONG, THICK gloves! I have been thinking it'd be cool to catch a shot of a bee sting in action but it's hard to think of subjecting anyone to holding still while I catch the perfect shot. Mark got stung four times or so on his right wrist and it got sort of swollen but not bad. He's tough. I would have been a mess for sure. Since I am now officially allergic to them (another something to my allergy list, it keeps growing), I have my Epipen ready to go. I appreciate the full protection of the suit, veil and gloves, but it does make photographing all the action a challenge. Sometimes it is too sunny to see my screen well through the veil. Maybe someone will invent something to help with that. Speaking of the bees, they are doing really well so we are super excited about the harvest in June!

Humor All Around

2010-03-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

Whenever I need a chuckle, all I need to do is visit some sort of Asian place. We have such an interesting way with words sometimes. And our way with illustrations amazes me. Sometimes I can even figure out what the meaning is. Sometimes I think there's no meaning. For example, what in the world do any of these characters have to do with bubble tea? Not sure. But I like these so much, I don't care. :-)

Looking forward to what should be a beautiful day tomorrow - sunny and 81 degrees. Yes. Our first day in the 80s. If it happens, I'm sure Mark will be THRILLED!

Today's Eyes

2010-03-01T21:02:00.001-08:00

I love looking at these frames. I love the colors and the designs! If you are looking for a great optometrist, check out Dr. Diskin in San Antonio. He's awesome and his frames rock. There's a great range in price and the pricey ones are worth it anyway since they last forever it seeems. Mark's IC Berlin frames are going on three years and they are still in great shape.

It's very hard to find great doctors in my opinion. I'm going back to my SA doctor since I've tried a few in Seguin and have not gotten my money's worth (in my layperson opinion). I have been battling little things since the last week of January and only this past weekend started feeling like my old self! And neither of the doctors I've been to in Seguin have any answers. Bleh. Now, if you need the ER, that's something I can vouch for...they are awesome. And Mark's neurologist is awesome (Dr. Moon). Just my two cents. :)

Cedar Waxwings

2010-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

These are Cedar Waxwings that visited our yard a couple of weekends ago. There were so many of them and I had no idea what they were until I asked other folks. They were a lot of fun to watch and I'm glad I got to see so many in my own back yard.

I am tired of all the allergies, flu, cold, stomach viruses and everything else going around lately. Ugh. Poor Mark is sick and I'm still not operating on 100%. Boo. There's too much to do to be under the weather all the time. :-)

Today was GORGEOUS. Blue skies and in the 70s. I had shorts and a tee on and got hot cooking pho. Tomorrow will be in the 50s and overcast. Oh, and there's a possibility of precipitation (sleet...we'll see) on Tuesday or Wednesday. Wacky, wacky weather for sure.

Happy Year of the Tiger!

2010-02-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a great start to the new Lunar year! I, unfortunately, ended up fighting a bad headache that turned into a migraine so I could not post new year greeting until today. Nor did I make my round of calls to wish the family well. :-( Well, making up for it this evening.

This is a flower from the beautiful arrangement Mark gave me for Valentine's Day but the yellow is nice for New Year celebrations as well. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband and a great life. My goals this year include taking better care of myself physically and emotionally (stress) so that I can get better control over my health. Mark and I are back at it at the gym and we're very excited about goals we have set for ourselves! :-)

Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous new year for everyone!

Book Talk and Friends

2010-02-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes me happier than when I see Mark happy. And that's how he is when he's working on bees or when he's presenting one of his book talks, as he was this past Saturday at the San Antonio Public Library. I'm so proud of him! And I love to see how passionate he gets when he's teaching other people how to replicate his research methods in order to trace their personal genealogy. Cool.

This week started out rough with allergies, headaches and other ailments. After doctor visits, tender loving care from Mark and super wonderful friends, things are looking up. Well, I am anyway. I need to work on not getting so overwhelmed. And I need to have more fun. And I need to do more photography and crafting. And by the way, not only is Sunday Valentine's Day...it's also VIETNAMESE NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!! Year of the Tiger, folks! We better get ready!

Depending on one another

2010-02-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

This week started off really, really, really, really, really rough. I am normally a positive, upbeat person but sometimes even I need help. Sometimes I just want to rest quietly and let others help me. And I'm lucky, because I am surrounded by family and friends who love me and provide me with all the help I need. Near or far, it's a good feeling to know you can call on people just to talk if you need to do so.

I felt like this yellow fungus for some reason. You know, I'm resting on others. Relying on others to carry me when I am a little down and out. I pull from their strength. They lend me support; nurture me for a while. Melancholy. I felt melancholy. Usually I feel bubbly.

Anyway, I don't dwell on the bad or the negative for long usually. But I did want to say that I am a very lucky person to have a really good life filled with awesome people. And when I think I am having a hard time, reminders are sent my way that show me I'm not the only one going through difficult times. Hopefully I can be as great a support to them as others have been for me lately.

Mistletoe, Memories & My Love

2010-02-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

When I was young and growing up in NC, mistletoe was typically only seen during the Christmas season and only if you bought it from nurseries or at the tree lots and farms. Or if you go up to the mountains of western NC.

When I moved here to Texas, one of the first things I noticed and was thrilled by was the abundance of mistletoe EVERYWHERE!!!! And you can find them throughout the year, not just during the cold season. WOW! I loved it and I still do. Why? I don't know. I guess because it makes me happy. It makes me think about showing my affections for those I love. I used to move Mark under every mistletoe I saw. And if we were driving, then I'd point it out to him and then I'd kiss him! LOL. It makes me happy. And it still does. And I like that it's still got that magicness about it for me.

This is at one of the bee yards and it hangs on a tree under which the hives sit peacefully. I love the delicate berries. They make me think of pearls. And they make me smile. And so does that man in the background of the picture. Yesterday was a really rough day for me at work. A lot of emotions and stuff. And I knew, I just KNEW, that when I get home and I talk to Mark...then it'll be okay. He has such a peace about him and I am lucky to have him in my life.

Grapefruit and a Green Thumb

2010-01-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

Mom continues to grow the most amazingly large grapefruits. She has the greenest thumb I know and can bring plants back to life after others have given up on them! lol. She has the most amazing gardens usually, where everything's green and robust. Even BITTER MELON. If you haven't had this, you should try it and let me know what you think. I wish I liked it. It's just too bitter for me but other people in the family love it. I want to like it. I just can't do it. I tried it again last week and my face just puckered up. Still B-I-T-T-E-R. Was hoping I had changed but no. I have not. Oh well. At least I tried it.

Party Time

2010-01-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

Yaaaay! I'm on vacation. Had a great work week which included a trip up to Irving for an IT Training Summit that my new boss hosted. It was really cool and I loved being able to help her a bit with goodies for the attendies and also by presenting one of the group sessions. I love doing that sort of thing!

Then we kicked of the official start of the weekend with a surprise dinner at Cheesecake Factory for Mark. Some of our friends met us there and I even managed to fool him even though two of our Segun friends rode with us. He thought that was the surprise. lol. We had a really awesome time - lots of laughing and love and lots of great food. Several of us are thinking this should be a new tradition for birthday celebrations. Next up, March birthday for Tim I believe. :-)

Ringing in 2010

2010-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, everyone! Today we hung out with Mark's sister, who drove in from Austin. We had a really great time and want her to come back soon! It was a great first day of the year - beautiful weather and perfect temperatures.

Took Mark into SA afterwards and celebrated his January birthday early early. :-) It was fun! We got him an iPhone and he's loving it. And so am I. Oh why, why, CMC, will you not let us have those???? lol. I will just live through Mark and have fun with his way cool apps! He's got a cool compass on there! We're having a lot of fun together with all the tech stuff so I'm happy about it and glad we could get him something he'll find fun and useful too. Happy early birthday honey bee! And these SWAT officers sat next to us at the Noodle House. I resisted snapping a shot for a long while but finally gave in. I mean really, when would I ever find myself sitting this close to 11 of them??? And they were so QUIET. It was impressive. I wished everyone in a restaurant could have conversations as quietly as they did. And they all had guns. Cool.

Another fun day tomorrow, woo hoo! Why? Because it's Saturday and we get to see another pretty day and do things around the house and have fun in general. Sometimes I still feel a litlte blue but mostly I am happy. The job's going okay and I'm liking my new manager a lot. I'm not as stressed as I used to be and that's wonderful. Good way to kick off 2010. Just still a little down about how things went this past year but I learned a lot and I know it was for a reason. Can't wait for the bright year ahead. :-)

Should probably go to be now. It's late. Y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Colin Powell

2009-12-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, a big group of us had the opportunity to attend an event called Get Motivated. It was an interesting opportunity to hear several great speakers though some of them didn't speak as long as I would have liked. For example, I really enjoyed Colin Powell. He was hilarious and he just commands respect. Even when he's joking about himself adjusting to retirement after serving his country for thirty-five years. He's cool.

We also got to hear folks like Tony Parker, President Bush (younger), Terry Bradshaw, Zig Ziglar and Dr. Robert Schuller. If you ever get a chance to attend, I'd recommend it. Sure there are some parts that aren't as great but you take away the good stuff and leave the other parts behind. I enjoyed it and I'm really glad our company let us go.

Last week we also went back to Mississippi to pick up the last of our twenty hives we bought from J.N. Russell of Russell Apiaries. Nice man, beautiful countryside there. Seriously, how can this landscape below not touch you. It was so beautiful there!

Work is great and getting better. :-) Enjoying getting to know my new manager and enjoying spending more time with my three trainers here in Seguin. Haven't been to Corporate a few weeks though I'll go back after Christmas and then again in January. At least it's not every week! Hopefully things will settle down more and more with each passing week. What is truly wonderful is the level of stress has decreased significantly for me AND I'm now able to take a day off here and there and truly enjoy the time off. No worries about what's happening at work and who's doing what to handle things. Nice. Very nice. It's a great end of the year gift! Speaking of gift, if you check out Seguin blog, you'll see the gift I got from work. :-) Well, gift PLUS door prize. Again...nice.

My love of pink

2009-11-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

I love pink and I love how this shot turned out! This is a poinsetta I saw while picking up two for Melissa. We're going to visit her and Boyce tomorrow in Lake Charles. She likes pink as well.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you have a safe and wonderful break! :-)

We're girls and we rock!

2009-11-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of my team at work. We finally filled the two vacancies, including my replacement - that's Jess on my right (facing the picture) and I have really enjoyed getting to know her so far. We are on the same page on lots and that is a good feeling. I think there are a lot of things she can teach me about e-learning and IT standards training so I'm really looking forward to working with her. And you know what??? NO PLANNED TRIPS TO IRVING ON THE HORIZON. Wow! It's a nice feeling and how wonderful to put away the overnight bag for a while. :-)

Last week we had the ENTIRE team in Seguin. Half of us are in Irving and there's a total of 26 of us. Many had not been on plant tour before so we really wanted them to have a chance to see who makes all our money for us. And I got to wear my pink hat. That made me happy. lol

Work & Bee Update

2009-11-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

I use to feel like this when I came up to Corporate. Too many meetings, demands, stresses, craziness. And now I feel like this...

Why? Because my new boss started today so I am up here in Irving, transitioning out of the Manager role I have held since January 1! And now I get to do what I really enjoy - trainer development and training delivery. I'll still sit on projects but I can really focus my energy on areas in which I'm really interested. I hope to anyway. Heck, just having one job is WAY better than three! So it's already a huge improvement!

Bee update as it pertains to me: I am officially allergic to stings. :-( But the good news is that I totally suited up this past weekend and took EXTRA care with Mark's help and guidance and I worked on clearing brush near the bees without a single sting! Woo hoo! Enough visits to ER already. LOL. BTW, that's what we ended up doing. I had to get another steroid shot in the booty AND pills. Earlier I wrote it didn't seem as bad as the 2nd sting. But I wrote too soon b/c it became worse. The swelling and itching was crazy! Anyway, I really need to watch myself when I take pictures. I get so caught up and excited that I always seem to FORGET to look at the ground. And then I step in things. Like ant mounds. He he, that was Saturday when I shot the wind mills. Three or four ant bites but luckily not fire ants so I didn't react badly to them. Phew.

I Heart Wind Farms

2009-11-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

I just love seeing wind farms. I think they look so darn cool! We are seeing more and more mills popping up around Texas. Not farms, just individual mills. Mark and I are enjoying a little getaway in Corpus as he has a speaking engagement here on Sunday to help the public library celebrate their centennial this year!

Here's a farm I saw while driving from Tracy to Sunnyvale (CA) last year while traveling for work. They seem smaller than these in Texas and the base is different also.

November is here

2009-11-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Where did the year go for crying out loud? LOL, here we are already into November and then Christmas is here and then 2010. Wow.

This is a shot I snapped while visiting our Elm Creek bee yard with Mark a couple of weekends ago. I love going out with him to do bee stuff because it's so relaxing and really takes my mind off everything else. The weather has been so perfect for enjoying the outdoors - 70s and low humidity, can't ask for more in Texas. The allergens are still bad so I just know to crank up on medicine and to do two nasal rinses on Saturdays. :-)

The butterflies seem to be enjoying some sugar water that Mark dumped out from the hives. It's funny to watch them since they are EVERYWHERE these past several weeks. You know what else has been everywhere out in the country...caterpillars! Today I spotted a HUGE green one that fascinated me so I snapped a bunch of pictures. I appreciate their unique beauty. My aversion really has to do with not wanting them ON me. Ugh. All those little feet, or whatever caterpillars call their feet. :-) Speaking of today, I also got stung. My third sting. So far not as bad as sting #2 which required the ER but it is pretty swollen and quite achy. If it's not better tomorrow, then I'll go get a shot again. It was my fault. I sensed they were tiring of me in front of their hive, taking pics, but I just wanted a couple more shot. That was pushing it. Anyway, at least I have a sweet, non-stinging honey bee at home to care for me.

I also shot a little video of the butterflies in case you want to check it out. It's on my YouTube page, along with our beekeeping videos. If you search for tgretchen, you'll find my stuff.

Fly Away Bee!

2009-10-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite shots for several reasons. First of all, I love the green of the spider. It's really pretty. Secondly, I love the bee caught on the web. As I snapped the shot, the bee got snagged on the web, but fortunately, she was able to pull away and escaped. I love the story the picture presents. Also, it's neat that the spider is already busy putting away the last victim/meal.

This is out at the country bee yard where Mark has some hives. All around the area, it is brushy and over-grown. On this outting, I counted six BIG spiders, each with their own web. Waiting. And not for long. They are so smart! They had an endless supply of food, having spun with webs so near the hives. The bees can't help but eventually fly into the webs! LOL. Mark got rid of them when we were done on that trip.

Crafty Goodness

2009-10-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, the entire month of September passed and I didn't even post here! I am sure tired of being tired of things. Mainly it's just work. We are still short two positions being filled, including my manager role, but I think if we can get some good people hired, my life is bound to be less busy and stressful. Right?? Since I never know who might stumble across my posts, I won't say much here besides, pray hard for some help soon. Then I can return to the happier me I like to be.

Last Friday, I sat through a pilot training of Covey's Focus Workshop adn it really helped me to get back to what was important to me. What are my values? What do I hope to accomplish? How should my values drive my decision making process? My reaction to people's demands, requests, dramas, etc.? It was really good. No, it was a really great day. And wouldn't you know it...as I was leaving for the day, I answered one last call and it ended up being a loaded, long call. LOL, can't win sometimes. I did not, however, let it ruin my weekend. Instead, I did a few emails when I got home and then banished work from my mind for the weekend.

I helped Mark work on a label/tag for the honey and had a such a GREAT time! IT was so fun and relaxing to focus on something creative. I even made a trip to Hobby Lobby in New Braunfels to pick up some tags to try out. There's not a big selection at that location but they did have one size to try (medium) so we'll see what the big HL of SA has to offer. A color other than white might be nice. Okay, so tags made and attached. Now to sell the honey...

Houston Temple

2009-08-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Recently we went to Houston for the day to do some shopping and to just get away for a bit. Had a great time -- took Mark to get dim sum for the first time and he liked it though it was as great as the ones I've been to in California. Also got some great shots of the blooming lotus plants outside the restaurant. Trekked over to the madhouse, also known as Hong Kong Market (oh my, gotta remember not to go there on weekends! I have not been around that many Asian folks since visiting San Jose, lol.) On our way out of town, we made a stop at this little Buddhist temple that Lan and I had noticed many times but never stopped at before. Mark and I went inside and found it very interesting...not what I was used to from past temples. This one had many different shrines to various deities. I found Quan Te Am and said a prayer to her. Most of the others, I was not familiar with unfortunately. I didn't know if I could take any pictures inside so I didn't since I didn't want to be disrespectful. Didn't see any monks and though there were three people who seem to be volunteers, no one spoke to us. Still, I'm glad we went in to visit.

Hot, hot, hot!

2009-08-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

I wish I was in some refreshingly cool water right about now. Just came in from running errands. It is blazing hot again. I think we're at day 43 or 44 of the 100+ degrees. Crazy hot. Doesn't this water look awesome? It's on Town Lake up in Austin when we went canoeing up there with Mark's brother from CT and his family. I loved the clear waters as well as the wildlife we saw (Herons, fish, turtles...the dogs I could have lived without. Austinites love to take their dogs EVERYWHERE, lol.).

Waiting for Mark to return home and then we're headed to Sonia's mom's house to make a Vietnamese feast of eggrolls and fried rice. I haven't done that in a long time so we're all looking forward to it and I hope it turns out yummy. Gonna be a hot day to fry some eggrolls but at least they have a pool we can jump in afterwards!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sarah! :)

Sheesh....I am bad!

2009-08-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Obviously I am having a hard time keeping up with my online life. :) Hoping things will get better once I can leave my current position and fill the Trainer Lead. I'll be able to focus on trainer development and actual training delivery, which are both very fulfilling to me. Also, it'll mean I won't have to travel to Corporate so much. I think I am actually getting tired of flying. Yes. The last two times I have become sort of woozy right when we're about to land. Ugh. Not fun. Luckily no hurling. :)

Mark's doing very well. I sent an email update I hope to everyone. If not, I'm sorry if I missed you. He is recovering well and decided not to complete his contract with SAPL. Instead, he's been busy on his second book, keeping bees and building his workshed. Very happy to be home and I'm very happy to see him so.

Here's are a few friends of ours at work. Jessica, Sonia, Tod and me. I really enjoy being in Seguin all of this week and probably all of next week too! No Big D until August 17.

Author Update

2009-07-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! So here we go. The update on Mark is that he is pretty much recovered from the TGA episode thank goodness. And he's decided to not stay at SAPL until December as originally planned. I'm happy that he was able to finally let that part of life go so that he can focus more on his next book! Which is coming along quite nicely. And guess what? The first 200 books sold pretty fast and the publisher is running another 200 already! Cool. It's good to have you home and happy honey!

Bees are not making as much honey as we would love b/c the weather has been so hot and dry. Poor bees. BUT as I point out to Mark, at least they are not dying on us. That's sometimes more than other beekeepers can say. They appear to be doing fine considering the extreme drought. I believe we have broken our record 3-digit days this summer already. :( We may go out and check out the country bees later. I hear there is a GIGANTIC spider out there I need to see. :)

Work is okay. There is some light at the end of the tunnel at least since they did post my current position both internally and externally. Anybody have 8+ years of training experience and a bunch of SAP knowledge as well? If so, talk to me. :) The stress and demands are high but it's not without rewards. I am learning so much about the business, the company, working with upper management, supervising 20+ people, getting free Southwest tickets b/c of all the trips to Dallas, and more. But it's not just for me. I'm so grateful there was a way to work out something where I can still be the Trainer Lead. That will allow me to supervise five IT Trainers (Sonia is one) and I'll get to do what I know and love -- train. I'm very excited to have things settle down. The stress is not good for my blood pressure and migraines. I am thankful to have a nice job during this recession, don't get me wrong. I just had to make sure I didn't make myself sick trying to get it all done at work (which is impossible). Now all they have to do is hire another Global IT Training Manager. :) No sweat.

2009-06-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

I want to be like Nelma when I get older. She has the greatest attitude and she embraces everything she experiences. And she still has fun like a kid! I love her; she just cracks me up. By the way, Nelma is probably going to overtake me as the tech-pro of the family -- she's on Facebook, recently discovered Flickr and she's always eager to learn new tech things. Pretty cool lady.

2009-06-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

I so enjoy our vegetables from the garden! It's so fun to see them growing and it's even greater to put them in my belly! :) The green beans were delicious tonight with the chicken. We also had yellow squash with dinner. The picture above is of longbeans that Mark's sister gave us. None harvested yet so I'll let you know what that's like. I like the interesting look they have as they are growing.

And here's a shot of our bell pepper plant. Our peppers appear to grow upward, which is funny apparently since other people told me theirs grown "normal," pointing downward. Hee, we have funny peppers.

I am home all week this week! I am so happy about that! I feel like I'm reconnecting with home, with my Seguin office buds and with myself. It's good to be where you feel good. Dallas is a different world and the past two weeks have been a real challenge and though I know I learned a lot (about others, about myself and about business), and I certainly hope I helped some of my peeps up there, I am sure glad it's over with for now. We made our hiring decisions and soon, I hope to have a formal announcement sent out about the new IT Training Team. We will have ten people on the team! Should be interesting.

Mark's Book Signing

2009-06-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, Mark had his first official book signing at the Library and I was happy to at least catch the last 5 or 10 minutes of the presentation. Then I helped him by sitting at the "book sales table" for a while. He sold 18 copies -- good job, honey!

I was late due to delayed flights out of Dallas because of the severe storms up there. Thanks Penny, for getting me back to the house in time to make the talk! :) Work has been pretty trying lately and I'd venture to say the last two week have been my toughest there but I have seriously learned a lot and I am still happy to be here. I can't tell you how much I've learned in my two years here - May 28 was my two year annivesary! With the integration of the SAP Training Team, my peeps grew from 3 to something like 23, so it made traveling to Dallas every week a necessity. The stress of managing people going through a transition took its toll on me so I'm glad it's done with for now. Interviews, phone calls (to decline people), meetings, meetings, meetings...I just want to train. And train others how to train. I'm ready to get back to it. So here's to better weeks ahead.

Graceful Flight

2009-05-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, but to be this graceful. I would fly right back to the Island. I miss it. I have just finished looking at the trip photos again. And I wish I was back at Ocracoke.

What my vacation did for me...

2009-05-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

It reminded me that there are more important things in life than work yourself into the night and then again by 7:15 a.m. the next morning.

It reminded me that finding shells and running from rushing cold Atlantic Ocean water is a wonderful stress reliever and it just makes you so relaxed that all your worries and thoughts about how to fix problems simply wash away with each receeding wave.

It reminded me that I enjoyed reading and journaling and that I actually did more of these things before I started living online so much.

It reminded me riding a bike around Ocracoke Island makes me feel like I'm a kid again and I'm biking all over my old neighborhood...exploring all the cool things you don't see riding around in a car.

It reminded me that we are so, so, so small when we stand next to the sea or the lighthouses.

And most importantly, it reminded me that while I am working hard fixing problems and finding solutions to meet business needs, I have to remember to have fun and to laugh and to leave it all at work sometimes.

Thoughts of Work

2009-05-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Since when did I get too busy to remember to eat or to take time to go to the BATHROOM!?!?! That's how most of Mark's last weeks at City of SA were and I just couldn't imagine I'd ever be that busy but here we are.

Last week I went to our corporate office because I really wanted to start building relationships with my new trainers working up there though many are from other cities and states, that's where the hub of SAP rollout is. I did a meeting marathon and met with eleven trainers and I think I still need to meet seven or eight more. Lesson: do not book back to back meetings. It's too much. But I really wanted to be available to them. It's always difficult to transition when you don't even know what positions are going to be available and if they are available to you. It's all too familiar to me....library days at the end. It's not a good feeling and so I want to do what I can to help them.

I need to figure this new work out a bit. I don't want it to consume my life because that's just not healthy. But how are we going to build training models, fix a big training project, develop new trainers, learn how to use new technology in order to start virtual training programs and then translate all of that into Polish and Croatian for starters. Oh, and with a not so big team. Hmm....it can be a fun challenge but it's also a little overwhelming at times.

I shot this photo on my way up to Irving. I loved the way the dark sky looked. But I gazed out the window and thought how different my trips now are from what they were last year. Last year the trips were for me to train. Now the trips are for meetings. Interesting. Sometimes I miss the old days a lot.

Spurs Woes

2009-04-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm no party pooper but I have a sinking feeling we are not going to have another banner to add up here this year. :-( Especially after last night's performance. I mean really.....who has 32 points in the THIRD quarter????? Ugh.

Austin, SAP & the Garden

2009-04-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to visit Mark's family up in Austin. Cynthia is back in Texas after many years of living in California so we had a nice family welcome for her. Mandy and Stuart brought Braden and Annie so I had a ton of fun playing with them, of course. They are pretty sweet kids and they're at ages where they're starting to really have a conversation with you, well, Annie anyway. Brady's great and definitely has his opinions, it's just a little harder to figure out his talk for now. :)

This is me and Annnie while we waited for dinner at Pappasito's -- that was yummy! I think Annie may be eyeing the tortillas, which were excellent. We don't normally get dips but that queso was delicious (bottom of the pic), filled with onions, jalapenos, tomatoes and cilantro. The food was good, company great...but the restaurant was so loud, it was really a challenge to have conversations. Still, we were able to have a nice visit at the house before and after and we're very happy to have Mark's sister nearby now.

This week will be a busy one again. I go back up to Irving for a few days for meetings. I'm much more at home up at Corporate now than the first several times I went up there. It's amazing how knowing a few people in a "foreign" place can really help you get used to things. I have learned a lot and am very excited with each day and week since it just means exposure to new things. Last week there was a huge reorganization in order to integrate the SAP teams back into the business; they'd been operating as a project team but now it's time to move the project into operational mode (post go-live). It's exciting for our team b/c it means we'll be able to really work together to deliver rollout AND operational training without reinventing the wheel. For me, it will mean managing more oeople. I'll keep you posted.

Garden note: Tomatoes are doing okay and we have several to gaze upon at this time. Ripen please!! And this evening, we just put in the rest of the garden...I know, we are behind but it's been busy. What can I say. We put in five rows with bell peppers, cucumbers, long beans, green bean, yellow squash and zucchini. I can't wait to see how they do.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Godiva Goodness

2009-04-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

I love Godiva. There really isn't a Godiva I haven't enjoyed. :) I may have said this once or twice before. This is Mark's basket this year and he was sweet enough to share some of it with me though I do have my own basket of yumminess. Thanks honey!

This little cookie was really tasty. And cute. Also cute are the little chicks below. One of my fantasies is to own a shop like the main character did in Chocolat -- if you haven't seen that movie, it's really good so I highly recommend it.

Food & Exercise

2009-04-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I went for my orientation at the Wellness Center where Mark, Melissa (his daughter) and I just joined -- I'm so excited! If you haven't been there, it looks like it's a great to work out so at some point, I'm sure I'll get a shot of it. Didn't want to lug my digicam around and make people nervous my first real visit. I haven't been in a "real" gym in many years and I am amazed at the new gadgets they now have. For example, I tried out the bike. It is definitely NOT like the ones we had. LOL. It was really cool...they have virtual courses on the screen of your bike and you can race other bikers if you want. AND you can also watch TV or you can even play a video game where you're biking around capturing dragons. I can totally see how forty-five minutes can pass quickly on these. The other neat thing about the bike is that you actually have to change gears AND steer the bike with the handles. Cool! It was a lot of fun. After the cardio stuff, we checked out the weight machines and I now have a "plan" in place. I hope to feel and maybe see results in the next several months! I am so excited!!

A word on food...because other than feeling and being fit, if I stick to regular exercising, I can enjoy whatever food I want without too much deprivation. :) So last week while in Irving, we tried Best Thai off of MacArthur Blvd., near the office. I loved it! This is the yellow curry chicken and I loved, loved, loved the heart-shaped rice. Sweet. I have not seen anyone present rice that way so it really tickled me. The curry was yummy with carrots and potatoes. Nice flavor. Great eating. My friend Susan had the wonton soup and I had a small bowl to warm me up and next to Mom's, it was the best one I've encountered. Great broth and the wontons actually had tasty meat inside. I highly recommend this place.

Sky Watch

2009-04-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Navasota, Texas, in order to pick up some queen bees and also to just see family and get away for a bit. They had the most beautiful rolling hills, ponds and wildflowers. I loved it. It rejuvenated my soul for an entire week and I felt positive and ready to roll up in Dallas. I love Bluebonnets. Sigh.

Check out the other great sky shots at Sky Watch

Mark's Book Cover

2009-03-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's so close now and I can't wait to have a book in my hand to see what it looks like in print. Way cool honey!

I can't believe it's March already!

2009-03-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

Had a great day so far doing some work around the house AND taking pictures, too. We went to Home Depot to pick up a few tomato plants since we enjoyed them so much last year. We're starting with three but since we have a ton of containers (after we cleared out the old shed, we realized this), I'm sure we're going to put in more tomatoes plus I want to try at least one big container of herbs. I smelled some dill while shopping at HD and really liked it since it reminded me of mom putting it in a fish soup for us. YUM! I'm going to try baking with it this year.

Catching up on the Flickr, Facebook and blogs but now I am off to finish picking out clothes for the work trip to Dallas next week. At least I get to go with Sonia and it's only for three days. It's fun up there and this trip, there will be a reunion with our buddies from the acquisition trips from last August and September -- Tyler and James will be up there also and I'm sure we'll have fun catching up with them. They are a couple of great friends!

It has been fantastic so far with the transition of our training team to Project Management Office and making new friends along the way helps make my job more interesting and fun. I am learning so much about technology, the steel industry and business in general. I'm truly a blessed girl and I would not trade what I have at home and at work for anything!

On an even greater note....it's really, really official now. Mark's book comes out next month and I even got to see the contract that came in the mail today. Congratulations honey bee! The publisher is Janaway Genealogy, out of Santa Monica, CA. This past week, as I sat listening to Mark tell our new friend Steve (a coworker from Dallas) about his research and writing, I discovered Mark actually has FOUR books in mind! I thought it was three. LOL. You go honey. You write all you want; I think it's super! I'm currently working to get him to take a trip to Phoenix this month so that he can attend spring training events with Fergie Jenkins' crew -- it's the Cubs, the A's and beyond that I'm not sure who else is out there in AZ. It's a chance to see great players, old and young alike. Plus he can reconnect with all the players whom he's met already. DO IT HONEY!!!! :)

Bee Activity for February

2009-02-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we checked on the bees since it was such lovely weather. A little breeze in the air but on the warm side so they were pretty active. First we checked on the bees in the backyard and they were good. The Africanized hive is dead pretty much. Can't hear any buzzing going on. Finally.

Then we went out to the country location to get out and about a bit and we had a great time. It is so relaxing to be outside enjoying the sun and breeze and bees! We even had some company that day. These cute, sweet little girls were playing outside when we got there and so they came over to visit with us. They were really nice. One of them lives there and she had her friends over. I was impressed by their comfort so close to the bees. We just made sure they knew the importance of not getting too close. Just to be on the safe side.

As you can see, the girls had their dogs with them. Cute. They also have goats, hens, cats and two donkeys. Wow. This guy cracked me up and I was both amused and slightly uneasy with his intense stare. Uhhhhh.....hello Mr. Donkey. Did you need something? Am I suppose to do something?? LOL

I Heart Life

2009-02-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been lazy AND busy. :) But life is pretty good and this evening, I felt like this cupcake reflects how I feel. Sweet, cute, full of love, happy, fun. :)

Good night. Off to bed now. Early day at work tomorrow. Again. I just get anxious to get there and get the day started. There is so much to do!!!

Hearts, Hearts, Hearts

2009-02-14T13:15:00.001-08:00

Happy V-Day everyone! I am glad I feel much better today, though after this I think I need to take a nap. I feel drained and tonight we have a church banquet we're going to attend. I was asked to take pictures and family portraits so I'm looking forward to that.

Above is what I gave Mark for V-Day. The hearts each contain one or two coupons which he has a year to redeem. Everything from dinner to car wash and etc. You get the drift. The chocolate covered fortune cookies were from HEB (of all places!!) and they were too cool and funny not to get. I gave my teammates at work each one also, along with their card. We really needed some love there after the layoffs this week. I'm so happy I'm still there! Here are some of the cards I made for them:

Yea, those were a lot of hearts. I meant to count them to see how many I cut and quilled but I forgot. Oh well. I can take an estimate later. I crafted twenty of these cards and while it was a lot of work and took some time, it was also relaxing and helped me take my mind off work for a while. Mark gave me this awesome Vera Bradley Bowler bag --- can't wait to try it out after my nap. But it wasn't even my favorite gift. No. I also got one of the most wonderful love letters ever!!! I cried. I laughed. I think it deserves an Oscar! :)

Chillin' out on Friday Night

2009-02-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am thinking of my parents and missing them. Sometimes you know you have to have your own space (state) in order to have your own life and identity but it doesn't mean you don't miss being near people who mean a lot to you.

Aren't they a handsome pair?? I have always loved these photographs of my parents. Why? Well for many reasons. But one that comes to mind is this...you think of and see your parents in one way. You know. They're your PARENTS. But then I see these glamorous shots of them and think, "Wow! They are so young and gorgeous! I wonder what they were like at the age [early 20s]."

What else is going on? Let's see...it was a CRAZY week at work. C-R-A-Z-Y. Meeting, meeting, meeting. Talks, emails, tracking info and people...on and on. But we did have a great Friday? Why? My trainers came home! They've been on the road for weeks and it was just fantastic to hear them in the office and to have a chance to just be together as a team. In their honor, I hosted Treat Friday. Food + friends = FUN!

And tonight I'm enjoying blogging, working with some photos (organizing) and watching TV. :) What Not to Wear, Unwrapped (The Secret Life of Pizza) and next up will be several episodes of CSI (original). No work tonight. I am giving myself that. Tomorrow? Bee check!

Smokey on the Fence

2009-02-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

Here's Smokey asking me why I am all up on him and disturbing his groove. He was sitting on the fence. For a long time. With his back to us. I wondered why and I also wanted to photograph the bees so I went over. I don't think he wanted me there because I scared away some birds. I believe that little booger was sitting there, hoping the birds would come near him. He's quite the carnivore, you know. Anyway, this is one of his "faces" that he has for me. He has many...happy, sweet, angry (after a bath), sleepy....

Cool bees!

2009-01-23T21:43:00.001-08:00

Cool bees!
Originally uploaded by tgretchen

This was so fun and fascinating to watch!

I shot this with my digicam while Mark was working on getting the bees ready for our drive home to Seguin.

They really were very gentle bees to be around.

Cadillac Ranch

2009-01-19T16:40:00.000-08:00

Last week I took a quick trip up to our corporate office in Irving and had a really productive and nice trip. We ate dinner one night at Cadillac Ranch, a place I had not eaten at before, and I really enjoyed it! This is their oven baked fried chicken. Not as good as what's bad for you but pretty close. I have a love affair with fried chicken. I can eat it ANYTIME. And I mean anytime. I had leftovers and munched on another piece of chicken later that night while I worked!

I just loved that it came in a fancy bucket. I don't know why but that really tickled me and made it even more fun. The potatoes were only ok but the corn was very good also. So, thumbs up on the Ranch if you get a chance to go. Oh, we also got their chips and pica (or is it pico??) de gallo. Yum!

More on Bees

2009-01-13T20:38:00.001-08:00

Wow, can you spot the QUEEN???

Spurs Game

2009-01-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

On December 30, we went to the Spurs-Bucks game with some friends from work. I had so much fun! We got lower level seats for half price so it was a great deal and even though we lost the game, it was exciting to the very last second. Literally. I love being at the games; there's nothing like being there live even though I'm sitting and watching the boys beat up on the Sixers. They are super hot tonight, especially with their 3-pointers. I think we have 10 or 11 in the first half so far. Wild.

While at the games this year, I have been shooting more shots of the dancers, unlike in years past. Don't ask me why. Anyway, they are funny to watch and fun to test shoot. When I look at this shot below, I think two things: how do they not get dizzy flipping up & down and up & down and also, is all that hair real? I would love to have that much hair to flip around I think. LOL.

Team Lunch

2008-12-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

Last week we enjoyed plenty of festive moments at work and I really enjoyed myself. This was at our team lunch at Clear Springs, where we also did a gift exchange/white elephant deal. Very fun and very funny. Scratch off lotto tickets seem to be the hit gifts this year. I think I got about $11 out of all my tickets.

These are two of our newest IT Trainers, Susan and Penny. I'm very excited for us all since Sonia and I now have some much needed help (though right now we are in a slow moment since we're still holding off on too much traveling in order to help cut costs in this economy). I'm also thrilled with being selected as the new Global IT Training Manager. I'm excited but also a little nervous and just want to do a really job for Cindy. We officially move the training under our new supervisor January 1! :) We also move back into a trailer (which is where I started when I first came to CMC) with the project management team so that should happen within the next two weeks. It'll be good to get all four of us in one office. Right now we're all scattered about due to lack of office space and unanticipated team growth.

Shopping at the Quarry

2008-12-18T19:58:00.001-08:00

One of the things I miss about living in SA is the shopping. I love going to the Alamo Quarry Shopping Center. Mark and I went to do some Christmas shopping and when we left Borders, I looked right and really liked the sky backdropping the stacks.

Mark shipped off boxes today. Thanks honey! It's so nice to have him home this year (rather than his working 14-16 hours for city govt.). We got a tree up but only one ornament on it. LOL. My priority was the gifts and since they are done, I'll go unwrap ornaments I guess. It's been a crazy week. I can't wait to take some time off next week. I am going to relax and do some fun things. Like drive around taking pictures, make some earrings, read, and whatever else comes to mind. And I'm not even going to log into work email or chat. This will be something if I do all this. :)

Seguin blog views

2008-12-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

Sweet. A visit from Vatican City. LOL, I had a good time letting my imagination come up with all sorts of scenarios about who came by the Seguin blog and what they thought of the Lady of Guadalupe post (you know, where the statues are at Walmart). I like that widget; it's neat to see the places people are from when they visit your blog. :)

A Night Out

2008-12-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

It was a crazy week and nothing helps get you ready like a night out with friends, enjoying great talk and awesome food. We met our friends at Big Kahuna in SA, after doing a few shops at the Quarry. It was cold and windy so a good bowl of soup was perfect. The broth was wonderful, very tasty. The chicken and shrimp were also delicious and tasted fresh. We also had fresh spring rolls (or summer, I never remember who calls it what) and sampled the NEW authentic Vietnamese fried eggroll. DELICIOUS. I highly recommend it. No longer do we have to drive to Taste of Asia to get a real, almost like mom's, eggroll. Check it out.

The BK is under new management though the kids are still around now and then. Vicky is the new lady we see and she told us she was going to slowly incorporate new dishes on the menu -- there you go SA peeps, you heard me, get back over there and try them out again. AND Thinh told me that they will soon host a knitting group. He wanted me to invite my friends there so when he gives me dates, I will pass those on. Looks like we will continue to have Knit Nites though just not hosted by US!

Slab Cinema in San Antonio

2008-12-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot from our night at Ferris Bueller's Day Off at the SA Slab Cinema I mentioned in the previous post. I forgot my tripod so I didn't have many super clear night shots. BUT I was still surprised by the camera's work because all I did was turn it on with the automatic setting and it did the rest. I made no manual adjustments.

Note the folks in front of us were all bundled up. We knew it was forecasted to be in the 50s that night but if we had only accounted to the wind --- that was the killer! LOL. We laughed about it and at least we had our coats, a scarf and a blanket. Next year, we'll be better prepared.

During the parade scene of the movie, four peole appeared on the stairs to the right of the screen and did a little dance routine. And there was a "Ferris" and it was really cute.

Work & Art (and Artwork)

2008-11-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

Last week I took a one-day trip up to Corporate office in Irving (Dallas area). It was my first time there and since I didn't want to worry anyone with my digicam all over the place, I played it safe and just snapped a few shots with my phone camera. I did, however, snap some shots of this sculpture outside the building as I sat waiting for my cab back to the airport, Dallas Love Field. I love the swirls engraved on the surface. Below is a full shot of the sculpture. There were other really cool sculptures up on our main floor, these were made from scrap and I would have loved to photograph them but as there were important people roaming back and forth, I didn't want to appear as if I'd never been to a "big city" before. LOL

Well, things are going well. Just haven't made time to blog. That's naughty of me. I have enjoyed working out on a regular basis with Mark and I can already feel a difference on me even though I don't see it reflected on the scales. Oh well. I feel great and I look forward to our sessions. :) Work is going fine and I'm still enjoying it. Without travel, we've been able to focus on a couple of projects we've had to put off and we've had fun with our other team members.

This weekend we spent some time working on various little projects around the house and that felt great! I want to spruce things up a bit in time to decorate for the holidays! I love this time of year! I even pulled out some the gifts we already have and now I must update my shopping lists and see what's left. Exciting! And I get to make my own list for Santa Mark. Woo hoo!

One more thing, last week we went with Little Jess to see Ferris Bueller's Day Off at the Slab Cinema and had a blast! We nearly froze to death but still, we're glad we got that last movie in --- it's one of my favorite movies ever. I remember seeing it with some cousins in FL when we were teenagers. I so, so liked Matthew Broderick at that time. It's fun to think about old times.

Treat Tuesday Tofu

2008-11-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

We had another Treat Tuesday at work though this time we were shooting for lunch style eats. For my part, I made pork-stuffed tofu that I've been craving. Just haven't cooked it lately. I was going to make the tofu soup as well but that's not easy to carry or to keep hot at work. But I'll probably make some for home next week.

After frying the tofu, I hollowed them out. If I had a chance to go to Houston, I would have bought some pre-fried; those work great for this. Speaking of Houston, that makes me think of my friend Joel. Sorry I couldn't send some of the tofu to SA for you guy! Next time hopefully. :)

So after I hollow out the cubes, I fill them with the ground pork, which I added salt, pepper and scallions to as I was frying the cubes. I made little meatballs with leftover pork, wrapping the ground meat around some pieces of tofu I had scooped out earlier. Then I placed all of that into the pot that has some scallions I was heating up in cooking oil. Cover it all with two cans of diced tomatoes with basil and a touch of fish sauce. Stewed for about 30 minutes. Yum! I sampled some that night and didn't realize how much I have missed it. Mark had some and my work buds also enjoyed it which made me happy I made it. People have such preconceived notions about tofu it's sometimes hard to even get them to try it but everyone was open-minded. Thanks guys!

Needles & the Thyroid & Firmware

2008-11-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Grr...trying to update the firmware on my new digicam and of course it's not working right. You're supposed to just click "update firmware" and magically, it will update. Except mine won't for some reason. :( It's sort of irritating but I'm trying to be patient. This reminds me of trying to fix my frozen Sansa Monster player. It took some time back and forth with tech support but I finally got it back to life. So, I just need to figure this out. The 1.03 firmware is suppose to help resolve this odd processing thing the z1015 does so I really want to get this done so I can continue testing the camera. Wish me luck.

The needles above are from my thyroid biopsy last week. Though it doesn't seem as bad as a liver biopsy, I would rather not do it again. I will call next week for results. I got poked six times, better than the eight I had was told earlier. I waited until they got the #27 needles in since that's the smallest now available. The higher the number, the smaller the needle. So when we get blood drawn, a #21 is typically used. Unless you are me, then you need baby needles b/c you don't want to give up your blood and people have to really work hard to (1)find a vein and (2)extract enough blood for testing. LOL. Anyway, the doctor ended up also using a #25 and it hurt. It's still a little achy. It's not the insertion of the needle that I mind so much as the moving around INSIDE once it's in there. Ugh. felt horrible.

Sports update: Spurs lost (boo, we're 1 and 4), UT won, #1 Alabama survived LSU (barely), and we'll see how the Cowboys do manana.

What a week

2008-11-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

Another week has flown by and now it's November. I can't believe it is so near the end of the year already! Sonia and I had a lot of fun at work this week. This is going on five weeks with no travel so we're able to visit with people more and do fun things at home and work. Like bake. I made a chocolate chip Bundt cake, make that two. One for home and one for work. It's been a very popular cake....thanks Thuy, for sharing the recipe all those years ago! Now I gotta figure out how to make those scrumptious cranberry muffins she also used to make for us. :)

So for Halloween, Sonia found these cute and inexpensive costume ideas on the web. This is her bag o' leaves costume. Cute, very funny. We made the rounds to friends' offices and gave them a laugh. I nearly cried a few times...you know, stuffing newspapers down the bag, watching as she lost some as we walked around (from the bottom of the bag, very funny, trust me) --- these are fun things to see at the mill in IT. We also had our paycall and of course, lots of candy. Overall, super fun week.

To top of the great week, I had a great surprise today. We were shopping around for a camera for Mark and after reading, reading, reading, we were ready to go play with digicams at Best Buy. I was aiming for a compact point-and-shoot for him as he's taking more pictures now for his research and books. We narrowed it down to two, I believe a Canon and an Olympus, but he said for the money (and the feel of the cameras), we could get me an upgrade and then he'd take my z610. What a man. :) Thanks honey bee! He feels comfortable with the z610 and so we swapped. I'm so excited about the new z1015 and I can't wait to try it out. It does this funny processing thing that takes several seconds but I'm going to research whether a firmware update will help that. It hasn't been a problem today when I've been practicing but we'll see. I'll really have to test the camera out next week to decide if it's a keeper. You get two weeks to return so we'll see.

Treat at the Spurs Game

2008-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night, we went to the Spurs/Heat pre-season game and while the boys did not win it, Mark and I still had a great time. Here I am enjoying hand-dipped ice cream at the game. It was divine though totally overpriced. But then again, most things are overpriced at sporting events, especially the professional ones.

I love watching football but I always love it when the Spurs start their season. I don't know what I'm going to feel once Tim Duncan retires. It will not be the same. It's one thing to watch the Spurs with no David Robinson, but to not see Tim either? Gonna be hard. Tonight the season officially started with the Celtics and Cavaliers. Tried to get into it but I think for me, the season doesn't officially start until we play Phoenix tomorrow night! Go Spurs!

The weather has been fantastic but the allergens have been HORRIBLE. :( There is nothing worse (to me) than a beautiful day wasted inside because going outside means having a really bad headache that turns into a migraine by the evening. Sad. It's been sunny and in the 70s during the day and 40s at night and we've been enjoying walks after dinner for the past week. Glorious. But the last two nights really got to us and last night we both noticed a lot of head pressure after the walk. Boo. Tonight, no walk. I just can't deal with migraines three nights in a row.

I am in a funk again with posting to the Seguin blog. I have really been enjoying it and last week, I got into that don't-want-to-post-and-no-one-can-make-me funk. On top of that, I haven't felt inspired with the digicam either. Don't know why. Sometimes I sit here, like now, and I think of all the things I want to do....knit, sew (learn to), visit blogs, read, clean up, organize, bake, whatever. And I feel sort of overwhelmed. So I just try to pick one thing to do. Ugh. And sometimes I don't do any of it! I just sit on the sofa and read! Oh, I guess that's one of the things on my list so that's ok. LOL. Ok, I'm going to try and post something on the other blog now.

Vogue

2008-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

I love this shot and when I look at it, Madonna's Vogue goes through my head. LOL

Just got back from another walk. The weather has been so perfect lately, it's hard not to want to be outside! The only not-so-great thing is that it is obviously getting darker sooner. :( booooo. But as long as we get dinner in and we head out by 7:15p, we still have light left for an enjoyable walk.

Knitting Friends and Big Kahuna

2008-10-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I wouldn't say "never." Some things I still have to work on in life. Actually, I should say I am typically not these things but of course there are plenty of things for me to work on in myself. And here are two other fortunes I thought fun, funny and appropriate last night. :)

Last night we met friends in San Antonio at the Big Kahuna for dinner, catching up and some crafting. Two of us knitted and one person drew/colored. I haven't seen my SA pals in months and I can't tell yuou how my heart swelled to see them and to give them each a hug. It was so wonderful!

The above yarn was given to me by Mark and I have been wanting to do something special with it and last night, I finally decided. My friend Tu Ann, who cooks at and was an owner of BK, really liked the yarn (50% Merino, 50% silk) so much that I am going to make a special scarf for her. I think I even have a pattern in mind but I need to get it on paper. Nothing fancy. I will snap a shot once I make some progress.

Sky Watch Friday from La China

2008-10-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

This past week has been so nice b/c we actually got a bit of rain! And the clouds have been amazing to watch. I love all the different shades of gray and white and blue and then the blue, blue sky above it all. Check out the other Sky Watchers for some more great skies!

Tonight we had a very nice treat -- pizza and a movie. So decadent on a work night. The other night we watched a great French movie called Jean de Florette with Gerard de Depardieu, Yves Montand and many other great actors. Such a great story (if you want a good synopsis, check out Wiki). There you can also read about Manon of the Springs, which we also thought was a great movie. What a nice treat.

Peaceful, Calming Sky

2008-10-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

I shot this while flying over Virginia and trying to get to Newark a couple of weeks ago. I love it for many reasons. The colors are so vibrant despite the darkness. The peacefulness of it really appeals to me and makes me feel so calm.

Sometimes, when I look at cloud formations like the ones in the upper portion of the picture, they make me think of waves in an ocean. I used to spend a week each month at the beach while growing up in NC and I always loved watching the waves. If you look long enough at the ocean and then you watch the skies and clouds as the sun's setting, it almost looks like two different oceans. Maybe that's just my imagination. That's the nice thing about your imagination, no one can tell you it's not so.

The clouds along the bottom of the picture make me want to walk on them. They look thick enough to do just that. I wish I could fly. I would wander through these clouds. And hope that I didn't run into one of the airplanes in the air. I was just telling someone not too long ago that I miss dreaming that I could fly. I used to have those types of dreams regularly, where I'm swooping down on and around and back up to the blue skies. But I have not had one of those dreams in over a year and I miss it. And it makes me wonder why I haven't. Hmm.

Cooking is so relaxing

2008-10-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It's relaxing to come home and put on some music and then start preparing a great tasting dish. I love the flavors of the alfredo sauce on the pasta and I also love the spinach in the crusty chicken. Nice texture. Yum. I cooked the spinach with garlic, pine nuts and mozzarella. Then I rolled it inside the tenderized chicken breast, pinned it with a toothpick and then rolled the whole thing bread crumbs and parmesan. Baked for 40 minutes.

Travel update: Since my last post, a trip has been added. :) End of the month, back to the west coast; San Jose area down to Claremont area again. LOL. So much for no traveling until mid-November.

Ready for the week?

2008-10-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

I think I am. This has been one of the nicest weekends I have had in a really long time. For starters, I didn't have to pack and travel today nor will I have to this coming week! Cool. I love traveling but it's great to be home and to think about not having to go anywhere until mid-November is hard to get my mind around right now. We have been traveling so much the past few months, I have just gotten use to being half-packed all the time.

Back to my wonderful weekend. Gosh, what didn't we do? LOL. Friday we had a great date night and just really enjoyed being together, unrushed. We even did a late night run to Whataburger. Now that was fun. Naughty but fun. Saturday I went for a walk/run and enjoyed the cool morning. It was so, so nice. Then we strolled to a cool house down the street to check out the garage sale (found one thing). Lunch was at the Ranchito so that we could meet up with friends to split up SPURS TICKETS. That's right, it's Spurs time!! We got first pick again; we're on a roll. We're excited to have the season starting soon. (I'm sad the Silver Starz got swept but hopefully better luck next time ladies.)

Today I worked on my desk clutter a bit and then Lan came to visit and have dinner. And the Cowboys won. And we saw some cool games, both college and NFL so it's been fun. There were some really good fumbles, tackles and generally bad QB decision-making today so it makes for great highlights. Very funny stuff.

Sky Watch Friday

2008-10-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

I snapped this shot somewhere over the east coast, either Virginia or Maryland. I was flying from Atlanta to Newark and since Newark was not accepting flights for several hours, we circled in the air until we had to finally refuel in Baltimore. That's our airplane wing along the bottom of the photo.

I love this one for the wonderful colors, warm yet cool at the same time. And peaceful. Sunset is usually a calming time for me but it was even more so up in the air, among the clouds. I loved it.

Check out the other Sky Watchers this week.

Bella, Bella, Bella

2008-09-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'm home! And I had a great time in Summit, New Jersey. It wasn't at all as I expected and it really reminded me of visiting Sean & Renee & the kids in New Canaan, Connecticut. Lots of shopping, people watching, great food, and more great shopping in a huge, upscale mall with Tiffany's and so on. Nice.

This little lingerie shop was to die for and made me wish I had longer to linger. I spied it as we lunched across the street at La Pasteria, eating OUTSIDE since it was so nice and cool and crisp. Gosh, I had the best time being outside! Anyway, after lunch Ronnie humored me and let me do a bit of window shopping. I did go inside this shop, couldn't resist. Everything was beautifully made, mostly Italian, very nice, very expensive. But still neat to check it out.

When we were done, we walked it back to the company site, only blocks from here. It was wonderful to walk everywhere!